Faucet attachments



A nl 2, 1957 E. P. AGHNIDES 2,787,452

FAUCET ATTACHMENTS Filed Feb. 1a. 1953 WELD SOLDER OR CEMENT WIRESTOGETHER OR ELIE P. AGHNIDES BY ww ATTORNEYS FAUCET ATTACHMENTS Elie I.Aghnides, New York, N. Y.

Application February 18, 1953, Serial No. 337,502

3 Claims. (Cl. 261-76) This invention relates to faucet attachments andmore particularly to devices of that type which may be readily assembledand disassembled.

Devices of the type described and shown in my U. S. Patent 2,210,846,Fluid Mixing Device, granted August 6, 1940 and U. S. Patent 2,316,832,Fluid Mixing Device, granted April 20, 1943 have gone into widespreaduse. T he commercial devices built under these patents can bedisassembled for the purpose of cleaning but there is some difficulty indisassembling and reassembling the devices. Moreover there is thepossibility that an inexerienced person may improperly assemble thedevice. There are also certain difliculties involved in supplying spareparts. A primary object of the present invention is to provide anaerator which overcomes the disadvan tages of the prior aerators.

Another object of the invention is to provide an aerator which it isdifficult to assemble improperly.

Still another object is to provide an aerator which may readily bedisassembled for cleaning by inexperienced persons.

Another object of the invention is to provide improvements in aeratorswhereby the discharge end of the aerator may be larger than with priorarrangements, for a given overall diameter of the body of the casing.

Still another object of the invention is to provide an aerator in whichparticles of the screen wires will not fall off and go into the waterpassing through the aerator.

in carrying out the foregoing objects I provide a perforated disc at theupstream end of the aerator carrying a handle upon which a secondsomewhat similar perforated disc may be mounted. The nature and functionof these two discs are fully described in my aforesaid prior Patent No.2,316,832. At thedownstream end of the aerator I may connect the screenstogether with a handle. I also use screens in which the screen wires arewelded, soldered, cemented or otherwise rigidly interconnected. in thealternative they may be molded or stamped or otherwise cut from a sheetof metal or other material or produced by any other process. In anyevent all of the screen elements are fastenedtogether at every junctionpoint. In the alternative screen-like perforations may be punched orotherwise placed in a sheet of metal or other material to'form thescreen. This produces results as hereinafter fully explained.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a cross-section of one form of the invention.

Figure 2 is a cross-section of still another form of the invention.

Figure 3 is a cross-section of an additional modifica tion of thepresent invention.

Figure 4 is a cross-section of yet another modification of theinvention.

Figure 5 is a view of a screen used in connection with the invention.

Figure 6 is an enlarged view of two of the screen wires of the screen ofFigure 5.

Figure 7 is a cross-section view of a modified form of screen unitemployed in Figure 2. It should be understood, however, that thismodified screen unit may be used in any of the devices shown in Figures1, 3 and 4 if desired.

In Figure 1, the metal cup or casing 10 has internal threads at itsupstream end for attachment to a faucet. Located in the body of thiscasing is an inverted cup 14 having perforations 15 along its side walland additional perforations along the top. A handle 18 is attached tothe top of cup 14 by means of enlarged heads or beads 17. An upper discor perforated diaphragm 19 mounted on or integral with an enlarged rim16 may slide freely along the handle 18. The screens S may be mounted inrims 1i and i2, and it is the thickness of these rims that space thescreens one from the other. A handle 13 having enlarged heads or beadsat both ends thereof passes through holes in the centers of the screens.

Since in Figure 1, the disc 19 and cup 14 are carried by a common handle18, they may be readily removed for purpose of cleaning and there islittle chance that the upper diaphragm 19 may become lost. The disc 19is not fastened to handle 18 and may therefore slide along the same.This is desirable during cleaning since it enables the diaphragm to beseparated from the cup 14. Essentially the same is true as for screensS. They are connected together by handle 13 to render their removal easyand to reduce the possibility of losing one of them yet they may bereadily separated somewhat for purposes of cleaning.

While handle 18 is attached to cup 14 by enlarged heads 17 and 17a, thehead 17a may be omitted (so far as the broader aspects of the inventionare concerned) whereby cup 14 may slide along handle 18.

The rim to for diaphragm 19 may be composed of resilient or softmaterial capable of acting as a washer, for example soft metal, plasticor rubber. Polyethylene is a recommended material. The disc 19 could becomposed of metal and the rim 16 of polyethylene. The whole could bemolded in one material.

In Figure 2 an upper cap 20 has internal threads adapted for connectionto a faucet. Cap 20 has a lower part having external threads 28. A lowercap 21 has internal threads 27 complementary to threads 28 and alsocomplementary to the external threads on the faucet. Hence lower cap 21may be fitted either onto the faucet itself or onto the lower part ofupper cap 20. A ledge 26 supports the lower dished disc or diaphragm 25which has perforations to create high velocity streamlets. A handle 23is preferably permanently secured to disc 25 by any suitable process ormeans but the upper disc or diaphragm 24 fits loosely upon the handle23, and may be moved along the same for purposes of cleaning all mamanner similar to the description of handle 18 of Figure 1. Handle 23can be made to move up and down in the disc 25 however, withoutdeparting from the broader aspects of this invention.

In Figure 3 an improved form of aerator is illustrated in which a casing3d has a ledge 38 on which the lower perforated disc 32 rests. A secondcurved perforated disc 33 rests on disc 32 and a washer 3i rests on topof disc 33. The handle 34 is permanently aiiixed to disc 32 but thedished disc 33 is slidable along the handle 34 when the latter has beenremoved from the body of the casing. The casing 3% has air inlet holes300. Three screens S have mounting rims 37 and are held together as aunit by rivet 36. The handle 34 has a projection 35 extending downwardlyto the top screen S to hold the latter in position during operation ofthe device.

Another form of this invention is illustrated in Figure 4 wherein acasing or cup 49 has a ledge 46 upon which rests a dished disc 45attached permanently to handle 42.

3 A second perforated disc 44 rests on the dished disc 45 and fitsloosely around handle so it may be moved along the same. Washer 43 restson the disc 44 and is used for sealing purposes. Below the disc 45 thereare washers or spacers 47 and 47a associated with two unframed screens41. A third screen 48 rests on a ledge in cup 40. The lower head 49 ofhandle 42 rests on the lower screen 48 which in turn rests on a ledge40b of casing 40. The casing has air inlet holes 40a. One feature of thepresent invention is best shown in Figures 2 and 4 where unframedscreens are used. In the past it has been the practice to use screensthat are woven or otherwise formed but without Welding, soldering,cementing or otherwise attaching the wires together. In certaincommercially used screens the practice has been to place a frame or rimaround the periphery of the screen. This has been deemed necessary incommercial aerators for the reason, among others, that unless the screenis framed, small portions of screen wires, especially near their ends,are likely to fall off and to pass out the downstream end of theaerator. This is likely to seriously aifect any drinking water involved.Due to framing the edges of the screens, the size of the screen andtherefore the area of the downstream opening is greatly reduced. Forexample, in certain aerators the cross-sectional area of the flow isreduced by 28% due to the frames on the screens. With the forms ofinvention shown in Figures 2 and 4 I use screens that have the variouswires composing the same welded, soldered, cemented, or otherwisepermanently attached to each other at each juncture of the wires asshown in Figures 5 and 6. These screens are not framed and consequentlythe cross-section through which water may flow is larger than in priorart aerators. In Figure 4 they are held in place by the washer 47 andhead 47a and in Figure 2 they rest on a ledge 27.

The upper discs 19, 24, 33 and 44 of Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectivelymay be made of resilient material such as rubber, plastic, etc. or ofsoft metal; or may be made of metal in which case washers such aswashers 31 and 43 of Figures 3 and 4 or the rim 16 of Fig. 1 aredesirable. In Figure 2 the resilient disc 24 does away with the need ofa Washer. The three screens carried by cap 21 are perforated discshaving openings corresponding to those in a wire mesh screen.

Figure 7 illustrates a screen unit in which the lower screen 70 isdished and holds upper screens 71 and 72 in it. Middle screen 72 hasindents and raised portions arranged to space it from screens 70 and 71.The upper edge of screen 70 may be bent over the edge of top screen 71to hold it in place. The middle screen 72 has indents such as shown anddescribed in connection with Figure 12 of my said prior copendingapplication S. N. 63,110, now U. S. Patent 2,633,343, granted March 31,1953.

I claim to have invented:

1. An aerator comprising means adapted for connection to a source ofwater under pressure for breaking up the water into high velocitystreamlets, an air inlet below said means, and means below the'air inletfor finely breaking up the water and mixing it with air and for joiningthe streams together to produce at the outlet end of the aerator acoherent stream containing bubbles, the firstnarned means including apair of perforated discs having a central stud for removing the twodiscs from the aerator as a unit, at least one of said discs beingslidable on said stud whereby the discs may be separated from each otherwhen it is desired to clean the same, said stud having enlargements onboth ends to confine the perforated discs thereto.

2. An aerator comprising means adapted for connection to a source ofwater under pressure for breaking up the Water into high velocitystreamlets, an air inlet below said means, and means below the air inletfor finely breaking up the water and mixing it with air and for joiningthe streams together to produce at the outlet end of the aerator acoherent stream containing bubbles, the first named means including apair of perforated discs the downstream one of which is dished toseparate the two discs from each other, the downstream disc having theouter upstream portion thereof in contact with the outer downstreamportion of the upstream disc with the central portion of the downstreamdisc being farther downstream than the outer portion thereof, the firstnamed means comprising a casing having a ledge on which said downstreamdisc rests, the casing having larger diameter than the discs upstreamsaid ledge, a handle fastened at the center of the downstream disc, theupstream disc having a hole therethrough through which said handlefreely passes, said handle having disc confining enlargements at bothends to limit the spacing of the discs.

3. An aerator comprising means adapted for connection to a source ofwater under pressure for breaking up the water into high velocitystreamlets, an air inlet below said means, and means below the air inletfor finely breaking up the water and mixing it with air and for joiningthe streams together to produce at the outlet end of the aerator acoherent stream containing bubbles, the first-named means including apair of perforated discs having a central stud for removing the twodiscs from the aerator as a unit, the lower disc being fixed to thecentral stud and the upper disc being slidable on said stud whereby thediscs may be separated from each other for purposes of cleaning, saidstud having enlargements on both ends to confine the discs thereto.

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